Kwara assembly moves to checkmate ‘Certificate of Origin’ scam

OrderPaperToday– Kwara State House of Assembly has resolved to wade into the indiscriminate issuance of Local Government Certificate of Origin by all the 16 Local Government Councils in the State.

This was contained in a motion raised by Mr. AbdulRafiu Abdulrahman (Ilorin North/West Constituency) titled ‘Need to check scam and abuse of Local Government Certificate of Origin’ and co-sponsored by House Leader Mr. Hassan Oyeleke (Kaiama/Kemanji/Wajibe), Ahmed Ibn Mohammed and Saheed Popoola (Ojomu Balogun Constituency).

Leading in the debate, AbdulRahman explained that the motion was necessitated by short changing of real indigenes of the State during recruitment and admission exercises by non indigenes who are in possession of fake State of Origin Certificate of Kwara State.

The lawmaker who expressed dissatisfaction over the development described the incident as criminal- denying future leaders of the state of available limited opportunity to rise to the top.

He cited sections of the criminal code to justify his motion and said the House should direct all Local Government Councils in the state to check its issuance and detect fake citizenship certificates.

In his contribution, House Leader Hassan Oyeleke said the multi ethno-religious nature of the state has made it susceptible for non indigenes to acquire the certificates.

He advocated the centralisation of the issuance to check proliferation and forgery of the certificate.

Other members who spoke on the motion identified various lapses in its issuance by Local Government Councils and advocated reduction of signatories to the certificate, penalties for culprits and re-confirmation of the genuineness of the certificate by concerned corporate organisations, individual and government agencies.

Subsequently, Deputy Speaker Matthew Okedare who presided over today’s Plenary summarily referred the motion to the House Committee on Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs for further legislative activities.

He also directed the Committee to invite Traditional Rulers, Community and Opinion Leaders for sensitization on the implication of indiscriminate endorsement of the certificate to non-indigenes.